Sharpening bright minds: New school program aims to challenge Lorain students

LORAIN -- More students in the Lorain City Schools will get a chance to tackle bigger academic challenges in the classroom next school year.

The district has unveiled the Honors Magnet Program, an accelerated curriculum that will cover all grade levels.

The program's goal is to accommodate students who are not sufficiently challenged by regular schoolwork.

"Some students excel in different areas that might not qualify them for the gifted program," Superintendent Cheryl Atkinson said of the new program.

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The Honors Magnet Program will operate like an advanced program, but will capture more students than the gifted program, she said.

Atkinson noted that the magnet program is designed for students who are ready to take on bigger challenges academically and deal with tougher course work than in regular classes.

The Honors Magnet Program will encompass all areas of study, including social studies, math and science. Students will work with robotics, do science experiments and have regular use of the NASA Science lab, she said.

To qualify for the Honors Magnet Program, students will be tested and their scores will determine if they are accepted into the program. The score needed to gain entrance into the program has not been set yet, but, Atkinson said she believed it will be around 90 to 95 percent.

"We don't want to put a child at a level they will be frustrated at," she said.

Atkinson said the current plan was to keep Honors Magnet Program students at their home schools, but that depends on the number of students admitted to the program. If there are few students at a school, they could be grouped with students at another school to fill a classroom, she said.

Students in the Honors Magnet Program will come from all grade levels. Ideally, students would begin the program in kindergarten and stay with it through 12th grade. The program aims to accelerate students' academic progress and keep them moving forward toward graduation and college.

Atkinson said that all students graduating from Lorain City Schools will continue to be ready to attend college, if they choose, whether they were in the honors program or not.

Students accepted into the Honors Magnet Program will have an orientation in which they will be advised of what is expected of them academically.

Testing for the program is set to begin this week. For those students entering kindergarten or transferring to Lorain City Schools in September, testing will be done at a later date.